Blog Archives - WELCOME TO THE JOY OF TROY

June 30, 2018

6/30/2018

Obedience by Faith                        THE GOOD NEWS OF OBEDIENCE BY FAITH

        Chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood. 1 Peter 1:2, R.S.V.

    Truth should never be judged by our experience. If the Wright brothers had done that, they would have continued making bicycles. But they said, There's something possible that we haven't seen yet. And today we have a Boeing 747 that is longer on the inside than was the Wright brothers first flight.

    The fact that obedience is possible, and that obedience is necessary, and that obedience is God's goal for each of us, should not be discouraging. Perhaps you are aware, as I am, and painfully so, that you are not obeying perfectly all of the time. But whether we fall or fail has nothing to do with the truth of the fact that God has the power to keep us from sinning.

    Obedience is possible. It is possible only through faith. This is true because faith is not just mental assent but trust based on relationship with One who is trustworthy. It is true because of our nature as sinners. Because apart from Jesus we have no righteousness, and only through connection with Him are we partakers of His righteousness. Obedience is only by faith because of the nature of surrender. When we are faced with our helplessness as sinners, our only option is to give ourselves up to the control of God. Obedience is only by faith because of the fact that until we have given up to God's control, we are being controlled by Satan. There is no middle ground where we run our own lives. We are under either God's control or the control of the enemy. Obedience is only by faith, because obedience is a fruit of faith, and fruit is always spontaneous, always a result of something else. Fruit is never obtained by working hard on producing fruit. Fruit comes by being united to the vine. And, finally, obedience is only by faith because of Jesus' example. As we depend on Him, in the same way as He depended on His Father, the obedience that was manifested in His life will be seen in our lives as well.

    Obedience is not the cause of our salvation, even though it is a condition. It is the result. As we behold the love of Jesus day by day, we are changed into His image.

June 29, 2018

6/29/2018

Obedience by Faith                        POWER FROM ABOVE

        I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. John 17:23.

    One of the most beautiful truths in the whole theme of salvation by faith is that Jesus came not only to die for us but to show us how to live, through dependence on the power that is above us, not the power that is within us. Jesus said in John 5:19 and 30, "I can do nothing of Myself."

    It is almost a comedy that, while Jesus, who had power within Him that He could have used, constantly depended upon the power above Him and never used the power He had within, we, who have no power within to produce anything in terms of obedience or righteousness, constantly try to depend upon the power that we don't have! Jesus, who was God, lived as a man, through dependence upon God. And we who are men try to live as God. It simply can't be done. This is one of the most conclusive reasons why obedience can come only by faith.

    Jesus not only proved that the law of God could be kept but He makes provision for each one of us to keep it if we will depend on God as He did. Jesus had no advantage over us (The Desire of Ages, p. 119). Not even by a thought did Jesus yield to temptation. So it may be with us (ibid., p. 123). We can obey as Jesus did (ibid., p. 309). We can overcome as Jesus did (Thoughts From the Munt of Blessing, p. 17). Through grace, the law of God can be perfectly obeyed by every child of Adam (ibid., p. 49). Jesus' life in you will produce the same as in Him (ibid., p. 78). Satan claimed that it was impossible for man to obey God's commandments. In our own strength it is true that we cannot obey them. But Christ in the form of humanity, by His perfect obedience, proved that through Him we can obey every one of God's precepts (Christ's Object Lessons, p. 314).

    Obedience is possible. Obedience is necessary. Obedience is important. If we depend upon Jesus as He depended upon His Father, we will have Him dwelling in us, and obedience will come naturally, spontaneously. "The life that Christ lived in this world, men and women can live through His power and under His instruction. In their conflict with Satan they may have all the help that He had. They may be more than conquerors."--Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 22).

June 28, 2018

6/28/2018

Obedience by Faith                        OBEDIENCE--THE LAST GREAT ISSUE

        He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 1 John 2:4.

    Jesus is the greatest example of obedience that we have, and He did it all by faith, through dependence upon His Father, even as He now invites us to depend on Him and His Father. The example of Jesus is the greatest reason why we may understand that obedience comes only by faith. Jesus was never our example in justification. He didn't need any justification. But He was our example in sanctification, in living the Christian life, for He lived His entire life through faith in another power.

    In the opening of the great controversy, Satan had declared that the law of God could not be obeyed. That's been his charge all along. He also claimed that should the law be broken, it would be impossible for the sinner to be pardoned. Please don't forget who it is that says that the law of God cannot be obeyed. When men broke the law of God, Satan exulted. But by His life and death, Jesus proved that God's justice did not destroy His mercy. He proved that sin could be forgiven and that the law could be obeyed perfectly. "It was because the law was changeless, because man could be saved only through obedience to its precepts, that Jesus was lifted up on the cross. Yet the very means by which Christ established the law [justification] Satan represented as destroying it. Here will come the last conflict of the great controversy between Christ and Satan."--The Desire of Ages, p. 763. There are even champions of the cross in our church today who say we can't obey the law of God.

    Until the end of time, obedience or disobedience is the question to be decided by the whole world. So this is a pretty big issue. And it is very "Adventist." If we don't continue to maintain our understanding of why we are Seventh-day Adventists, we are going to lose out in the end.

    Jesus came to die for us; He also came to give us an example of how to live. He said, "The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (John 14:10). Jesus was so surrendered to His Father's will that the Father alone appeared in His life. Jesus, who was God, lived as a man, through dependence upon His Father. By His example we see that we can live the same life of obedience, through dependence upon Him.

June 27, 2018

6/27/2018

Obedience by Faith                        HOW TO KNOW YOU'RE FOR REAL

        For of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. Luke 6:45.

    Would you like to know for sure whether or not you are a Christian? Would you like to know for sure whether you are a genuine follower of Christ? "Oh," someone says, "the proof of it is if you are living a good life." No, that doesn't prove a thing. There are many people who live good lives apart from Jesus. They are externally obedient, apparently good moral people. There are good people who would give you the shirt off their back, and curse God at the same time. You know that. Morality can come from all sorts of bad motives. We can put on a good performance because we want others to think well of us, because we want to stay out of jail, or even because we're just too afraid to do anything else!

    So how are we supposed to know whether we are really Christians? Steps to Christ gives two tests. Of whom do you love to talk, and of whom do you love to think? (See page 58.) If you find yourself often thinking of Jesus and wanting to talk about Him, this is probably as close as you are going to get to a test of whether or not you are a genuine Christian.

    The early Christians were called "Christians" because Christ was all they could talk about. "Christ did this. Christ said that. Christ did the other." And finally the people who listened said, "We might as well well call them Christians." What would you be called if people chose your name on the basis of what you talk about the most? If you are a Christian, you will love to think and talk of Jesus.

    As we continue to focus on Jesus day by day, and look at His love and mercy, and understand more of the sacrifice that He made in living and dying for us, we will be changed. As Jesus becomes the center and focus of our lives, our conversation will reveal the fact. Our thoughts will center upon Him. And our behavior will more and more be genuinely obedient, as a result of seeing what Jesus has done for us and how great is His love for us. It is by dwelling upon Jesus and His love that our lives are changed.

June 26, 2018

6/26/2018

Obedience by Faith                        FRUIT TO HIS GLORY

        Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. John 15:8.

    Jesus said in John 15 that if we abide in Him, we will bring forth much fruit, but without Him we can do nothing. We can do nothing toward what? The context of the passage is that we can do nothing toward producing fruit. We all know that we can do nothing, period, if God didn't keep our hearts beating. But He was talking to people whose hearts were already beating. And He says, Even though your heart is beating, you cannot produce fruit apart from Me. You can produce nothing.

    If you want a mini-course in salvation by faith in Christ alone, there are two texts that sum it all up. John 15:5: "Without me ye can do nothing." And Philippians 4:13: "I can do all things through Christ." Put the two together. If without Him we can do nothing, but with Him we can do all things, then that leaves the final answer to the question of human effort. The only thing left for me to do is to get with Him. And stay with Him. That's all I can do.

    It is through the process of getting with Christ in communion and fellowship that we abide in the vine. That's the way we come to Him in the first place, through studying His Word and through prayer; and that's the way we stay with Him in the second place. It is as we stay with Him, and continue our relationship with Him, that we bear fruit to His glory.

    There's nothing more spontaneous than fruit. If you read the chapter in The Desire of Ages on the vine and the branches, you find these words: "The Saviour does not bid His disciples labor to bear fruit. He tells them to abide in Him."--Page 677. Where is the labor? To abide in Him. Steps to Christ, page 61, says that obedience is the fruit of faith. So if one is the result and the other the cause, you put your attention toward the cause, never toward the result.

    That's why some of us have taken the position that genuine obedience is natural. Natural obedience comes as a result of the faith relationship. It is by beholding that we become changed. As we deliberately choose to spend time each day in beholding Christ, in contemplating His life, in communing with Him, the fruits of the Spirit, and the fruit of obedience, will be seen in our lives.

June 25, 2018

6/25/2018

Obedience by Faith                        OBEDIENCE--THE FRUIT OF FAITH

        Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. John 15:4.

    Obedience can come only by faith, because obedience is the fruit of faith. Faith is always the spontaneous result of something else. Jesus said, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing" (John 15:4, 5).

    John 15 is probably one of the most outstanding passages in all Scripture concerning how obedience comes, and teaching us that genuine obedience is natural and spontaneous. It is not forced. Let's look at this passage phrase by phrase for a moment. "Abide in me, and I in you." What does that mean? To be "in Christ," or to have Christ "in you," simply means to be in relationship with Him, to be in fellowship and communion with Him. And what does the word abide mean? If you do a careful study in the Bible on the word abide, you will discover that it simply means "to stay." The two men on the way to Emmaus said to the Stranger, "It is late in the day; abide with us. Stay with us."

    There are two things that are equally necessary for the Christian life. One is to get with Jesus in the first place, and the other is to stay with Him. Getting with Him is no good unless you stay with Him, and obviously, you can't stay with Him unless you first get with Him. And how do we stay with Him? In the same way as we got with Him. All by faith, and the ingredients that result in faith, the methods of communication.

    Then the chapter says that the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. When we talk about fruit, we talk about the fruit of the vine. It's not the fruit of the branches. But God doesn't produce anything apart from us. He produces fruit through us. If we are branches and try to produce fruit apart from the vine, we're not going to get any fruit at all. We're going to get nothing. Never forget that the fruit is always the fruit of the vine. God works through us; He doesn't bypass our faculties. Working through us, He produces the genuine fruit of obedience.

June 24, 2018

6/24/2018

Obedience by Faith                        PASSIVE CAN BE ACTIVE

        And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets. Heb. 11:32.

    In surrendering to God's control, some are afraid that their individuality and personality will be destroyed. They are afraid that they will become puppets. What we need to understand is that there are only two possibilities for who is to control our lives--God or Satan--never us. And which is more likely to end in the destruction of our individuality and freedom? The control of God or the control of Satan?

    God does know how to preserve our individuality, even as He controls us. He is the One who created that individuality to begin with. If there was ever a stubborn person it was the apostle Paul. Before he came to Christ, he was stubborn for himself and his own ideas. After he came to Christ, he was stubborn for God and His cause. Before Andrew came to Jesus, he was quiet and retiring. After he came to Jesus, he was still the same, but always quietlybringing someone from the sidelines to Jesus.

    Are you worried about becoming a passive instrument in the hands of God? Didn't you ever sing, " 'Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Hold o'er being Absolute sway' "? Did you mean it? Or are you bothered by the word passive? Just don't forget how active passive can be!

    Jonathan was apparently out of his mind. He took his armor-bearer and went climbing up a mountain to wipe out an entire enemy army by himself. But he was being controlled by God. He was a passive instrument in God's hands. And the enemy went running.

    Gideon went to war with pitchers and candles. He had sent home 95 percent of his army, keeping only a handful. They attacked, and the enemy fled. He was being controlled by God.

    Moses led more than a million people from bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land. Joshua, under God's control, led the people of Israel on to possess the land. Paul traveled from one city to another, starting either a revival or a riot wherever he went. The control by God will make us the most active we've ever been. But we are still simply instruments on His hands. Are you willing for Him to control you today?

June 23, 2018

6/23/2018

Obedience by Faith                        ON AGAIN, OFF AGAIN

        My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 1 John 2:1.

    When we study the subject of God's control we are faced with a practical problem. As we are growing in our Christian lives and in our relationship with Christ, sometimes we depend on him and sometimes we depend of ourselves. Sometimes we allow Him to control us; at other times we take control away from Him and are again controlled by Satan. While it is exciting to realize that it is possible to be, at any given moment, completely under God's control and have all the obedience and victory that He has for us, we still must realize that we take advantage of this possibility only part of the time.

    Remember Peter? In the sixteenth chapter of Matthew we see this principle of part-time control working in his life. Jesus asked the disciples who they said He was. Peter answered, "You're the Christ." And Jesus commended him for his answer, telling him that it was the Spirit of God that revealed that to him. But just a few moments later, when Jesus began to speak of His coming sufferings, Peter rebuked Him and said, "No, this isn't going to happen to You." And Jesus said, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Obviously, one moment Peter was under the control of God, the next he was under the control of Satan. The thought of the sufferings to come caused him to take his eyes off God's power and focus on himself, and he fell.

    Martha is another example. When Jesus came to visit her and her sister after the death of Lazarus, she met Him with strong faith, not doubting His power and His love even in the face of death. But moments later, when He told her to roll away the stone, her thoughts turned to self, and she doubted His word. Part-time control by God, part-time control by Satan.

    This fact is rooted in Scripture time and time again. The disciples, who at the foot-washing were "all clean," forsook Jesus and fled when the mob arrived at Gethsemane. Zacharias, looking for a moment to the weakness of humanity, doubted the angel's word, and was unable to speak until the birth the angel foretold. Each of us today, as we grow, can experience the same thing. But God leads us as quickly as possible to his control all the time.

June 22, 2018

6/22/2018

Obedience by Faith                        HOW SIN BECOMES HATEFUL

        I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. Ps. 40:8.

    The program that most of us have operated on at some time, at least, in our Christian lives is this: we think we will always love sin, but we will grit our teeth and stay away from it because we love God. The usual concept in Christian circles is that in living the Christian life we refrain from evil and do what is right because we love God, even though we would like to do wrong. "I love to dance. I always did. I probably always will. But I won't do it, because I love Jesus." "I love pork. Pork was always one of my favorites. I'd love to have some right now. But I've given it up--that's my cross for Jesus, and I'll bear it for Him." I do not believe that this is genuine obedience.

    "All true obedience comes from he heart. It was heart work with Christ. If we consent, He will so identify Himself with our thoughts and aims, so blend our hearts and minds into conformity to His will, that when obeying Him we shall be but carrying out our own impulses. The will, refined and sanctified, will find its highest delight in doing His service. When we know God as it is our privilege to know him, our life will be a life of continual obedience. Through an appreciation of the character of Christ, sin will become hateful to us."--The Desire of Ages, p. 668.

    Don't work on obedience--put your attention toward knowing God, and obedience will come. Isn't that clear? Yet how many of us have wasted countless time and energy working on obedience, instead of seeking to know God.

    We understand the working of cause and effect in many other areas of our lives. Even children know that if they want to grow, the thing to do is eat--not try hard to grow. Good doctors know that it is essential to discover the cause of an illness, not merely to treat the symptom. It is any different in our spiritual lives? God knows that if He can gain possession of our hearts, our behavior will be changed naturally and spontaneously. He knows that if He can somehow let us see sin as He sees it, and understand His love sufficiently so that we will trust Him with our happiness, we will come to hate sin as He does. And if we hate sin, if we find sin repulsive, as Jesus did, will not obedience naturally follow?

June 21, 2018

6/21/2018

Obedience by Faith                        POSSESSED BY THE SPIRIT

        I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Jer. 31:3.

    "When the soul surrenders itself to Christ, a new power takes possession of the new heart....A soul thus kept in possession by the heavenly agencies is impregnable to the assaults of Satan."--The Desire of Ages, p. 324. Does that sound like good news? We may not understand exactly all that is meant by having Christ living in us, controlling us, and willing and doing in us. But we can be thankful that we have that choice. Frankly, I'm not too happy with my performance apart from Him. I am thankful for the victory, power, and obedience available as we place ourselves under His control, aren't you?

    "In the change that takes place when the soul surrenders to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom....The only condition upon which the freedom of man is possible is that of becoming one with Christ."--Ibid, p. 466. How is it possible to be free and at the same time to be controlled? The secret is found in the key word, love. The control of love causes a person to do what he couldn't have done otherwise--and like it! Not only like it, but thrilled with it.

    I was shaving one morning when my 4-year-old came up to me and said, "Daddy, I need a white kitty with blue eyes." Now, I don't like cats--I don't like the way they come up and rub against me without even being invited. They fight with each other in the woods at night and keep me awake. But my daughter hadn't yet noticed what horrid animals they are! I replied, "Where would you keep a white kitty?" She said, "In my room." And I saw an escape. "You can't keep a cat in your room--there isn't any place for a cat the way you keep your room!" She disappeared, and I thought I had had the last word.

    But before I had finished shaving, she was back. She took my hand and led me to her room. I'd never seen it so tidy. I still don't know what she did with all the stuff in such a short time. But her room was spotless. In a final attempt to save the day I said, "LuAnn, did you clean up your room because you want a white kitty with blue eyes, or because you love your daddy?" And she said, "Because I want a...because I love my daddy!" Our home has had a white kitty with blue eyes ever since! The control of love makes all the difference.